Collection: 1931-57

Lee Wiley was a jazz and big band singer whose career began in the sophisticated orchestral era of the early '30s and encompassed swing and small band work through the '30s and early '40s before hooking up with Eddie Condon's band in mid-decade, and going on to make some highly regarded albums in the '50s. She was at once both distinctive and versatile, her smoky contralto voice enabling her to range across moody small group blues and after-hours material, swinging up-tempo big band arrangements, and lush easy listening recordings alike. This great-value 70-track 3-CD collection, selects chronologically from recordings made in the core quarter-century or so of her career, beginning with work with the orchestras of Leo Reisman, Victor Young and Paul Whiteman in the early '30s. It includes titles from her highly-successful series of songwriter-based sessions for Liberty Music Shop and Schirmer with Max Kaminsky, Joe Bushkin, Eddie Condon, and Paul Weston at the turn of the decade, as well as 'live' radio recordings with Condon's groups through the '40s, also selecting tracks from her excellent albums "Night In Manhattan", "West Of The Moon" and "A Touch Of The Blues" albums during the 1950s. She was a hugely talented performer who deserves much greater recognition than she has been generally accorded, and we hope this anthology will provide a showcase which will bring her to a much wider audience.

23 How Long Has This Been Going on ? (With Max Kaminsky & His Orch. & Fats Waller)

- Disc 2 -

1 But Not for Me (With Max Kaminsky & His Orch. & Fats Waller)

2 Baby's Awake Now (With Joe Bushkin & His Orch.)

3 I've Got Five Dollars (With Joe Bushkin & His Orch.)

4 You Took Advantage of Me (With Joe Bushkin & His Orch.)

5 Glad to Be Unhappy (With Max Kaminsky & His Orch.)

6 Let's Fly Away (With Bunny Berigan's Music)

7 Hot House Rose (With Bunny Berigan's Music)

8 Find Me a Primitive Man (With Bunny Berigan's Music)

9 Easy to Love (With Paul Weston & His Orch.)

10 You Do Something to Me (With Paul Weston & His Orch.)

11 Looking at You (With Paul Weston & His Orch.)

12 Why Shouldn't I ? (With Paul Weston & His Orch.)

13 Down with Love (With Eddie Condon's Quintet/Sextet)

14 Stormy Weather (With Eddie Condon's Quintet/Sextet)

15 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (With Eddie Condon's Quintet/Sextet)

16 I've Got the World on a String (With Eddie Condon's Quintet/Sextet)

17 Fun to Be Fooled (With Eddie Condon & His Orch.)

18 Moanin' in the Mornin' (With Eddie Condon & His Orch.)

19 Sugar (With Eddie Condon & His Orch.)

20 Don't Blame Me (With Eddie Condon & His Orch.)

21 Wherever There's Love (With Eddie Condon & His Orch.)

22 The Man I Love (With Eddie Condon & His Orch.)

23 When Your Lover Has Gone (With Eddie Condon & His Orch.)

- Disc 3 -

1 It's Only a Paper Moon (With Jess Stacy & His Orch.)

2 Body and Soul (With Eric Siday & His Orch.)

3 A Woman Alone with the Blues (With Jess Stacy & His Orch.)

4 Memories of You (With Jess Stacy & His Orch.)

5 A Woman's Intuition (With Bobby Hackett & Joe Bushkin)

6 Ghost of a Chance (With Bobby Hackett & Joe Bushkin)

7 Oh, Look at Me Now (With Bobby Hackett & Joe Bushkin)

8 Street of Dreams (With Bobby Hackett & Joe Bushkin)

9 Manhattan (With Billy Butterfield & Joe Bushkin)

10 Fools Fall in Love (Lee Wiley)

11 I Got Lost in His Arms (Lee Wiley)

12 How Deep Is the Ocean (Lee Wiley)

13 Why Oh Why (Lee Wiley)

14 Baby, Won't You Please Come Home (With Henry Red Allen Septet)

15 Glad to Be Unhappy (With Ruby Braff Quartet)

16 My Funny Valentine (With Ruby Braff Quartet)

17 Stars Fell on Alabama (With Dean Kincaide Dixieland Band)

18 East of the Sun (With Ralph Burns & His Orch.)

19 As Time Goes By (With Ralph Burns & His Orch.)

20 Keepin' Out of Mischief Now (With Ralph Burns & His Orch.)

21 Memphis Blues (With Billy Butterfield & His Orch.)

22 Blues in My Heart (With Billy Butterfield & His Orch.)

23 From the Land of the Sky Blue Water (With Billy Butterfield & His Orch.)

24 My Melancholy Baby (With Billy Butterfield Quintet)

Lee Wiley was a jazz and big band singer whose career began in the sophisticated orchestral era of the early '30s and encompassed swing and small band work through the '30s and early '40s before hooking up with Eddie Condon's band in mid-decade, and going on to make some highly regarded albums in the '50s. She was at once both distinctive and versatile, her smoky contralto voice enabling her to range across moody small group blues and after-hours material, swinging up-tempo big band arrangements, and lush easy listening recordings alike. This great-value 70-track 3-CD collection, selects chronologically from recordings made in the core quarter-century or so of her career, beginning with work with the orchestras of Leo Reisman, Victor Young and Paul Whiteman in the early '30s. It includes titles from her highly-successful series of songwriter-based sessions for Liberty Music Shop and Schirmer with Max Kaminsky, Joe Bushkin, Eddie Condon, and Paul Weston at the turn of the decade, as well as 'live' radio recordings with Condon's groups through the '40s, also selecting tracks from her excellent albums "Night In Manhattan", "West Of The Moon" and "A Touch Of The Blues" albums during the 1950s. She was a hugely talented performer who deserves much greater recognition than she has been generally accorded, and we hope this anthology will provide a showcase which will bring her to a much wider audience.